Claudia Marcella

Claudia Marcella was the name of the two daughters of Octavia Minor, the sister of Emperor Augustus, by her first husband, the consul Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor. According to Suetonius, they were known as The Marcellae sisters. The sisters were born in Rome. Between 40 BC - 36 BC, they lived with their mother and their stepfather Triumvir Mark Antony in Athens, Greece. After 36 BC, they accompanied their mother, when she returned to Rome with their siblings. They were raised and educated by their mother, their maternal uncle, Augustus, and their maternal aunt-in-marriage Empress Livia Drusilla. Very little is known on these two daughters of Octavia Minor.

Claudia Marcella Major

The birth year of the elder daughter, Claudia Marcella Major (PIR² C 1102; Major Latin for the elder) is unknown, as is much of her life. However, it is known that she was married twice.

Her first marriage took place in 28 BC, and it was to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the close friend and loyal lieutenant of her maternal uncle, Augustus. Although Suetonius states they had children,^[1] it is uncertain whether any of them survived to adulthood. However, it is generally believed that Marcella bore him a daughter,^[2] retrospectively called Vipsania Marcella, in order to differentiate her from her three half-sisters). The existence of this daughter is attested by the oration delivered by Augustus for Agrippa at the latter man's funeral in 12 BC.^[3] It is also in that oration that Vipsania Marcella's marriage to the general Publius Quinctilius Varus^[4] is implied.

In 21 BC, Agrippa divorced Marcella to marry Augustus' daughter, Julia, who had recently become widowed after the death of her first husband and Marcella's brother, Marcus Claudius Marcellus. Marcella then married consul Iullus Antonius, the second son of Mark Antony from his third wife Fulvia.

According to Plutarch, Octavia received Marcella (after divorcing Agrippa) back to her house and made her marry Iullus Antonius, who was held in high regard by Augustus. According to Tacitus, Iullus and Marcella had children.^[5] It is generally believed they had had two sons and possibly a daughter.^[6] Of the sons, one was the Lucius Antonius who went into exile after the disgrace of his father. The name of the other son is uncertain, though he is often referred to as Gaius Antonius. The existence of a daughter (Iulla Antonia) is postulated, but uncertain.^[7][8] In 2 BC, Iullus Antonius was forced to commit suicide after being found guilty of adultery with Marcella's cousin, Julia. However, it is uncertain whether Marcella was still alive at this point, as she is not mentioned.

Claudia Marcella Minor

The younger daughter, Claudia Marcella Minor (PIR² C 1103, Minor Latin for the younger, born 40 BC or 39 BC), was born after her father's death. She is generally believed to have been married twice but her marriages are not directly mentioned in any Roman texts, and are assumed on the basis of other sources.

Her first marriage was to a Claudius Pulcher, by adoption Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus (Consul in 13 BC), who died in the early months of his consulship.^[9] Marcella had one child by Appianus, a son named Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus. This son died prior to achieving a consulship, but not before marrying his half-cousin Domitia Lepida, by whom he had his only child, the later Roman Empress, Valeria Messalina.^[10][11]

At some point after Appianus' death, Marcella entered into a second marriage, this time to the former consul and censor, Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus. Paullus, like Marcella, had also already been married and lost a spouse (Cornelia, the maternal half-sister of Julia the Elder), by whom he had had three children.^[12] Marcella and Paullus may have had a son together, named Paullus Aemilius Regillus,^[13] who was a quaestor of Tiberius Caesar.^[14]

Other sources, however, make her only daughter by her first marriage Claudia Pulchra, born around 13 BC, who became the second wife of her distant cousin, Publius Quinctilius Varus after the death of his first wife, Vipsania Marcella, and following the death of her second husband she married Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, by whom he had a son born in 12 BC named Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus - who was the father of Empress Messalina - and a daughter Valeria, who married Lucius Vipstanus Gallus, Praetor in 17, who died during his office, and by whom she had issue.^{[15][page needed]}

Footnotes

1. ^ Suetonius, Life of Augustus, 63.1
2. ^ Syme, R., Augustan Aristocracy (1989), p. 314
3. ^ Papyrus: P. Köln 249 (trans. Potter)
4. ^ Papyrus: P. Köln 249 (trans. Potter)
5. ^ Tacitus, Annals 4.44
6. ^ Syme, R. Augustan Aristocracy (1989), p. 59
7. ^ Syme, R. Augustan Aristocracy (1989), p. 59
8. ^ cf. PIR² sub A 800; Raepsaet-Charlier, nr. 78, p. 95
9. ^ Syme, R., Augustan Aristocracy (1989), p. 148
10. ^ Syme, R., Augustan Aristocracy (1989), p. 147
11. ^ implied by: Suetonius Life of Claudius 26.2
12. ^ Syme, R., Augustan Aristocracy (1989), pp. 150-1
13. ^ Syme, R., Augustan Aristocracy (1989), pp. 111 & 150
14. ^ ILS 949
15. ^ Christian Settipani. Continuité gentilice et continuité sénatoriale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale, 2000